Abstract: In order to further deepen the research on plasma oscillation during the operation of a Hall thruster, it is proposed to use the potential measurement between the metal wall and the anode to study the plasma oscillation, based on the conductive characteristics of the Hall thruster with a metal ceramic composite discharge chamber. The relationship between the potential oscillation and the working parameters of the thruster is experimentally studied. The results show that the potential oscillation contains more oscillation information than the discharge current oscillation; the increase of the discharge voltage will increase the amplitude of the high frequency oscillation, and the variation of the breathing mode amplitude with the discharge voltage is related to the anode flow rates; the increase of flow rates only has a significant impact on the oscillation amplitude of the breathing mode; the breathing mode has a maximum oscillation amplitude band with the change of the magnetic field configuration. The study on the relationship between the potential oscillation and the working parameters provides a new method for the plasma oscillation measurement of a Hall thruster.

Key words: Electric propulsion, Hall thruster, Wall potential, Oscillation